Greetings all!
I love this quote by Voltaire “The best is the enemy of the good.” I think it applies to so many things in life, including decisions we make and how we make them.
https://pixabay.com/photos/choice-select-decide-decision-vote-2692575/
Do you ever experience decision paralysis when faced with choices? You are not alone! We live in a digital age when it is easy to access information. Infinite choices, information overload, and the ability to compare ourselves to others are at our fingertips 24/7. Is it any wonder that we experience FOMO (the fear of missing out) and FOBO (the fear of better options)!?
Both terms were coined by Patrick McGinnis, a US venture capitalist, who thinks FOBO is worse for you. He said that a little bit of FOMO might be good as it might prompt us to try something different and open up our perspective but FOBO is more destructive.
In his opinion, “Fear of a Better Option is the compulsion to keep your options open for as long as possible so that you can exhaust every possibility before choosing the “best” alternative” (LinkedIn).
In an interview with Inverse, he also said “We are all fearful of living suboptimal lives… Unlike FOMO, where you run after everything, with FOBO, you actually never commit to anything, because you are hoping that the perfect option will come along to make your decision easy.”
We
wonder - what if something better comes along? – and avoid committing
to a decision, any decision. It could be deciding which phone to get or which
job candidate to give an offer to.
I was not even familiar with the term FOBO until recently when I came across it in an old magazine article. But I definitely experienced it - most recently last week when I could not immediately decide on a small purchase. There were so many choices and so many reviews. I was, of course, grateful to have choices but they were making me confused and indecisive as I kept searching for the “best” option.
In a wonderful book “The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less,” Barry Schwartz reflects that too many consumer choices actually increase anxiety. A lot of studies show that increased choices might result in choice paralysis and even decrease satisfaction. I (usually) have an easier time making a decision when presented with 2 choices vs 20 choices! In Schwartz’ book, he describes an experiment of presenting shoppers with 6 jars of jam (30% of people bought) vs 24 (only 3% did). By the way, if you have not read this book, I highly recommend it!
Psychologically, decision-making is also interesting. If you decide based on maximum benefit later on, you are a maximiser and the research shows maximisers are more likely to be unhappy with their choices.
If, however, you choose based on the “good enough” criteria, you are a satisficer. The term "satisficer" was proposed by the U.S. Nobel Prize-winning economist Herbert A. Simon and is a combo of “satisfying” and “sufficing.”
How you can you combat FOBO and just decide already?
- Be grateful that you have options.
- Focus on one or two things that are important to you and let them dictate your choice.
- Read reviews.
- Set a deadline, especially for big purchases/decisions.
- Do not go back and price-compare.
- Limit your time on social media (this might warrant a separate post!).
- Follow the Golden Rule.
- Ask someone you trust who is more decisive than you.
- Take a nap and decide when your mind is fresh!
For my little purchase, I took the satisficer route and chose based on the price and the reviews: I narrowed my choices down to 2 and as they were really very similar, I just picked one.
SOURCES:
- “Just Decide Already” by Ashley Mateo, Cosmopolitan, December 2018
